Device for simulating a side collision of a motor vehicle
A device for simulating a collision of a motor vehicle by a laterally hitting impactor. The device comprises a seat carriage (3) which can be displaced in the transversal direction of the vehicle and on which a seat (5) is mounted, a lateral part carriage (10) on which a lateral part (13) of a motor vehicle body is mounted, and the impactor (20) that acts upon the lateral part (13) and is provided with an acceleration mechanism (21). The seat carriage (3) and the lateral part carriage (10) can be displaced independently of each other. In order to create a testing device which dispenses with the need for expensive and time-consuming preliminary tests to determine the settings for the tests, the impactor (20) is equipped with an acceleration mechanism (21) which can perform both positively and negatively accelerated movements in a controlled manner while an additional impactor (30) is provided that acts upon the seat carriage (3). In addition, further controls (15, 37) are provided for influencing the movement of the seat carriage (3).
Latest Magna Steyr Fahrzeugtechnik AG & Co. KG Patents:
The invention relates to a device for simulating a collision of a motor vehicle with a laterally impacting impactor, composed of: a seat carriage which can be displaced in the transverse direction of the vehicle and on which a seat unit with an anthropomorphous crash test dummy and, if appropriate, various other components (for example safety devices) is mounted, a side component carriage which can be displaced in the transverse direction of the vehicle and on which a side component of the motor vehicle body, and if appropriate various other components, is mounted, and an impactor which is intended to act on the side component and which comprises an acceleration device, the seat carriage and the side component carriage being displaceable independently of one another.
When collisions occur in which a motor vehicle collides with one of its sides with a flat obstacle (also referred to as a barrier, for example the front part of another vehicle), the obstacle pushes a component of the side of the motor vehicle (a door or a side wall) into the passenger compartment of the vehicle where said component consequently pushes against the seat unit. The vehicle occupants therefore can be injured not only by the acceleration forces or inertia forces but also by the collision with the pressed-in motor vehicle side components. For this reason, test which are intended for testing the side components of the vehicle and the restraint systems which are provided for protecting the vehicle occupants (for example seat belts and side airbags) are prescribed. These tests are essentially crash tests with a barrier which represents another motor vehicle with which the test vehicle collides, and the subject of a series of regulations. Examples which may be mentioned are the following regulations or consumer safety tests: FMVSS214, EWG/EG 96/27, ECE-R95, US-LINCAP, EURO-NCAP, JAPAN-NCAP, IIHS side crash.
When developing vehicles, equivalent tests are frequently carried out in order to avoid the need to check the influence of certain structural changes by means of a crash test.
A device for carrying out such equivalent tests is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,758. In said document, the seat carriage, side component carriage and the impactor are moveably guided in the transverse direction of the vehicle on an underlying surface which is provided with rails. In order to carry out a test, the impactor is firstly moved so far away from the test specimen, counter to the force of a spring, that the force of the spring which is stressed in the process corresponds to the acceleration which will give the collision speed to be simulated. Furthermore, the influences of all the components which are omitted from the test have to be taken into account for an informative test. For this purpose, acceleration profiles of the seat carriage and of the side component carriages are acquired either by means of a test with the entire vehicle or by calculation using the method of finite elements. In order to be able to reproduce these acceleration profiles, too, during the test, it is necessary for bodies which consume energy, have a damping or braking effect or shatter at a defined force to be mounted at various locations in numerous preliminary tests (“adjustment tests”), and said bodies are frequently successfully adjusted only by performing trials. During these very numerous tests, side components, doors, lining components, seat belts, airbags and seat units are destroyed, which makes these preliminary tests not only time-consuming but also very expensive.
An object of the invention is thus to provide a test device in which these preliminary tests can be dispensed with or can be at least drastically reduced.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAccording to the invention, a test device is distinguished by the fact that the impactor has an acceleration device which can carry out both positive and negative accelerations in a controllable fashion, that an additional impactor which acts on the seat carriage is provided, and that further control means for influencing the movement of the seat carriage are provided.
Since positive and negative accelerations can then be represented by actuating the acceleration device directly, without performing trials and mounting various bodies, the majority of these preliminary tests are already eliminated. The acceleration device preferably contains a piston to which a pressurized gas is applied in a controllable fashion, and a brake, and at the start of the test the impactor already bears against the side component. In this way, very abrupt acceleration changes in both directions can also be achieved. As a result, the impactor needs a shorter “run-up”, and in the most favorable case it does not need one at all. The test system thus also needs less installation space and thus less space in the factory building.
In one embodiment, a start securing means and an end stop for the additional impactor are provided as control means for influencing the movement of the seat carriage (in addition to the energy which is to be supplied for a specific acceleration). In many cases, this relatively simple arrangement is sufficient. The start securing means is preferably a connection between the seat carriage and the side component carriage which is released when the side component carriage moves, and a connection to the underlying surface is not necessary. In particular, the connection can be a latch on one of the two carriages, which latch engages in a securing element, for example a longitudinally directed recess, in the other carriage, and is opened when the two carriages are made to approach. The latch is particularly easily spring-loaded in the opening direction. Likewise, the end stop for the additional impactor can act on the additional impactor, but permit further movement of the seat carriage.
In one particularly advantageous but somewhat more complex embodiment, in order to influence the movement of the seat carriage, the acceleration profile of the acceleration device of the additional impactor can be controlled in the range of positive accelerations and in the range of negative accelerations. As a result, the influences of all the components which are omitted during the test can largely be taken into account and the test results are particularly informative, especially if, as a development of the inventive idea, the acceleration device of the additional impactor also contains a piston to which a pressurized gas is applied in a controllable fashion. There is then also no need for stationary securement.
Finally, the scope of the invention also includes the fact that a number of actuators which can be actuated individually or at least in groups are provided on the door carriage. By means of said actuators it is possible to realistically represent different properties of the side components which are attached to individual mounting units (buckling B-pillar, various intrusion behaviors of the door and B-pillar).
In the text which follows, the invention is described and explained with reference to figures, of which:
The side component carriage 10 can likewise be displaced on the rails 2 by means of rollers 11 or sliding guides. The side component carriage 10 bears a clamping device 10 for a side component 13 or a door of a motor vehicle. A start securing means 15, which is described below with reference to
An impactor 20 bears against the side component carriage 10. The impactor 20 is part of an acceleration device 21 which can control positive and negative accelerations in a predefined time profile. For this purpose, it contains a piston 22 which is connected to the impactor 20, and a brake device 23 which acts on said piston 22. As a matter of fact, the acceleration device 21 is described per se in DE 199 27 944. The impactor 20 is controlled by means of energy which is fed via line 25, using a control valve 24 which is actuated by a control center 26 via a signal line 27. The control center 26 controls the test sequence and in particular the respectively defined, variable profile of the accelerations which are imparted to the impactors.
An additional impactor 30 is intended, as part of a fixed acceleration device 31, to act on the extension arm 7 of the seat carriage 3 and has a beard 34. The acceleration device 31 is advantageously similar to the acceleration device 21, but it can also be of a simpler design without the possibility of setting negative accelerations as well. The acceleration device 31 is also actuated by the control center 26 via a signal line 32 which acts on a valve 33.
An effect chain which acts from the impactor 20 to the seat carriage 3 via the side component carriage 20 is thus built up, and ends at a second stop 37 for the seat carriage 3. The additional impactor 30 opens into this effect chain at the seat carriage 3. The second stop 37 can be replaced, as an alternative, by a brake which is mounted on the seat carriage.
The method of operation of the device described will be described below starting from the position of rest in
Finally,
Claims
1. A device for simulating a collision of a motor vehicle with a laterally impacting impactor, comprising: the seat carriage (3) and the side component carriage (10) being displaceable independently of one another, wherein
- a) a seat carriage (3) which can be displaced in the transverse direction of the vehicle and on which a seat (5) is mounted,
- b) a side component carriage (10) which can be displaced in the transverse direction of the vehicle and on which a side component (13) of a motor vehicle body is mounted, and
- c) the impactor (20) which is intended to act on the side component (13) and comprises an acceleration device (21),
- d) the impactor (20) has an acceleration device (21) which can carry out both positively and negatively accelerated movements in a controllable fashion,
- e) an additional impactor (30) which acts on the seat carriage (3) is provided,
- f) further control means (15, 37) are provided for accelerating the movement of the seat carriage (3), and
- g) a start securing means (15) and an end stop (35) for the additional impactor (30) are provided as control means for influencing the movement of the seat carriage (3).
2. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the acceleration device (21) contains a piston (22) to which a pressurized gas is applied in a controllable fashion, and brake devices (23), and at the start of the test the impactor (20) already bears against the side component (13).
3. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the start securing means (15) is a connection between the seat carriage (3) and the side component carriage (10) which is released when the side component carriage (10) moves.
4. The device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the connection is a latch (40, 44) on one of the two carriages (3; 10), which latch (40, 44) engages in a securing element (45) in the other carriage (10; 3) and is opened when the two carriages (3, 10) are made to approach.
5. The device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the latch (40, 44) is spring-loaded in the opening direction, and it is released when the two carriages (3, 10) are made to approach.
6. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the end stop (35) for the additional impactor (30) acts on the additional impactor (30) but permits the further movement of the seat carriage (3).
7. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein, in order to influence the movement of the seat carriage (3), an acceleration profile of an acceleration device (31) of the additional impactor (30) can be controlled in the range of positive accelerations and in the range of negative accelerations.
8. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the acceleration device (31) of the additional impactor (30) contains a piston to which a pressurized gas is applied in a controllable fashion.
9. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein a number of actuators (53-55) which can be actuated individually are provided on the side component carriage (10).
10. A device for simulating a collision of a motor vehicle with a laterally impacting impactor, comprising: the seat carriage (3) and the side component carriage (10) being displaceable independently of one another, wherein
- a) a seat carriage (3) which can be displaced in the transverse direction of the vehicle and on which a seat (5) is mounted,
- b) a side component carriage (10) which can be displaced in the transverse direction of the vehicle and on which a side component (13) of a motor vehicle body is mounted, and
- c) the impactor (20) which is intended to act on the side component (13) and comprises an acceleration device (21),
- d) the impactor (20) has an acceleration device (21) which can carry out both positively and negatively accelerated movements in a controllable fashion,
- e) an additional impactor (30) which acts on the seat carriage (3) is provided,
- f) further control means (15, 37) are provided for accelerating the movement of the seat carriage (3), and
- g) a start securing means (15) and an end stop (35) for the additional impactor (30) are provided as control means for influencing the movement of the seat carriage (3), wherein the end stop (35) for the additional impactor (30) acts on the additional impactor (30) but permits the further movement of the seat carriage (3).
11. The device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the acceleration device (21) contains a piston (22) to which a pressurized gas is applied in a controllable fashion, and brake devices (23), and at the start of the test the impactor (20) already bears against the side component (13).
12. The device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the start securing means (15) is a connection between the seat carriage (3) and the side component carriage (10) which is released when the side component carriage (10) moves.
13. The device as claimed in claim 12, wherein the connection is a latch (40, 44) on one of the two carriages (3; 10), which latch (40, 44) engages in a securing element (45) in the other carriage (10; 3) and is opened when the two carriages (3, 10) are made to approach.
14. The device as claimed in claim 13, wherein the latch (40, 44) is spring-loaded in the opening direction, and it is released when the two carriages (3, 10) are made to approach.
15. The device as claimed in claim 10, wherein, in order to influence the movement of the seat carriage (3), an acceleration profile of an acceleration device (31) of the additional impactor (30) can be controlled in the range of positive accelerations and in the range of negative accelerations.
16. The device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the acceleration device (31) of the additional impactor (30) contains a piston to which a pressurized gas is applied in a controllable fashion.
17. The device as claimed in claim 10, wherein a number of actuators (53-55) which can be actuated individually are provided on the side component carriage (10).
5483845 | January 16, 1996 | Stein et al. |
5485758 | January 23, 1996 | Brown et al. |
5623094 | April 22, 1997 | Song et al. |
5872321 | February 16, 1999 | Yannaccone |
6035728 | March 14, 2000 | Jost |
6561007 | May 13, 2003 | Bock et al. |
6675631 | January 13, 2004 | Steffan et al. |
20050081656 | April 21, 2005 | Saari et al. |
198 54 856 | December 2000 | DE |
101 13 501 | September 2002 | DE |
WO 97/46859 | December 1997 | WO |
WO 99/30125 | June 1999 | WO |
Type: Grant
Filed: Jun 9, 2005
Date of Patent: Jun 9, 2009
Patent Publication Number: 20070251295
Assignee: Magna Steyr Fahrzeugtechnik AG & Co. KG (Graz)
Inventors: Andreas Rieser (Zeltweg), Arno Eichberger (Radegund), Steffan Hermann (Graz)
Primary Examiner: Harshad Patel
Assistant Examiner: Jonathan Dunlap
Attorney: Bachman & LaPointe, P.C.
Application Number: 11/629,341
International Classification: G01M 7/08 (20060101); G01M 19/00 (20060101);